When it comes to visual effects and the creation of video awesomeness, there are so many great software solutions available. I of course am a huge fan of using Blender for all things digital graphics. Blender however, is among dozens of options for filmmakers, and from After Effects to iMovie, the truth remains the same that no matter what you use, creating great video is not just about the tool you are using, but rather your ability to work with the limitations of the software.

Limitations?

Yes. Every software has them and no matter what you are doing in the design and entertainment industry, you will always face road blocks when it comes to the tools you use to create art. The trouble that so many indie filmmakers and 3D artists have is that they blame the software they are using for their inability to create something awesome.

I have some sad news… Its not the software’s fault. Nope.

Stephen Spielberg made his first movie as a boy using an 8mm film camera. His editing “software” wasn’t software at all, but a pair of physical scissors used to cut his film together. This did not stop him from making something his audience found intriguing and quality driven.

In the digital world, limitations are in a sense the key to bigger advancements. Think about how mobcap has been perfected. It used to not even exist, but someone had a vision for it so software was developed to meet that vision. Then filmmakers explored that software to its fullest potential and met the limitations of the software. This led to developers perfecting the software, setting that bar of limitations further away for the filmmakers to reach, and when they do reach it, the whole cycle will start over again, and the quality will improve.

So weather you use Blender, After Effects, HitFilm Express, or iMovie, understand the limitations of your software, and work around them to use that software to its very fullest potential. Before you complain about the limitations of the tools you have at your finger tips, dig deeper. You may find that what you have can do exactly what you want or need, and at the very least it will push you to stretch your imagination in creative ways.

At the end of the day, when an audience sees something awesome, they rarely care how you got that result, they care about the quality of what you created, and that comes from the deep down vision of you the artist.